This invention relates to collimators, and, more particularly, to collimators which are particularly well adapted for collimating rays emanating from a source of nuclear radiation.
It is a primary object of the present invention to afford a novel collimator which is particularly well adapted for use in the nuclear radiation field.
Another object is to provide a novel collimator of the aforementioned type which is adjustable in a novel and expeditious manner.
As is well known to those skilled in the art, nuclear radiation is commonly used both for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. For example, X-ray machines have long been used to take "pictures" of the internal structure of patients or articles being diagnosed. They have also been used for therapeutic purposes, such as, for example, to apply radiation to a selected portion of a patients body for such purposes as the treatment of cancer, and the like.
In addition, nuclear radiation has heretofore been diagnostically used by administering proper dosages of selected radiation-emanating materials to a patient to be diagnosed, and by the use of detection equipment, such as, for example, a scintillation scanner, or the like, making a study of the distribution and concentration of the administered material.
The use of nuclear radiation rays, such as, for example, X-ray and gamma rays, and the like, for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes has posed problems relative to the control of those rays. This is particularly true where a directed beam of the rays is required, such as, for example, in the practice of therapeutic techniques wherein it is desired that the beam be concentrated on a particular surface area or at a particular focal point on or in a patient; and in the practice of diagnostic techniques, such as, for example, in those instances wherein it is desired to focus a scintillation scanner, or the like, on a radiation-emanating material disposed at a particular location in the body of a patient.
To assist in controlling nuclear radiation rays in the operation of both therapeutic and diagnostic apparatuses, collimators have long been used. Collimators heretofore known in the art for such purposes have included collimators embodying individually adjustable tubes, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,139,966; collimators having a plurality of fixed passageways therethrough, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,011,057, 3,373,286 and 3,668,395; collimators having adjustable diaphrams for varying the aperture size, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,909,118, 2,881,329 and 2,959,680; collimators in the shape of a cone, and which are adjustable by adjusting leaves forming the sides of the cone, such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,091,696, 3,448,270, 3,609,370 and 3,829,701; and collimators embodying tubes which are adjustable longitudinally, or channels which are adjustable by swinging them back and forth horizontally in parallel relation to each other, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,782. It is an important object of the present invention to afford improvements over the collimators heretofore known in the art.
Another object of the present invention is to afford a novel collimator for use in the nuclear radiation field, wherein the parts thereof are so constituted and arranged that the focal point of the collimator can be varied and accurately adjusted in a novel and expeditious manner.
Another object is to afford a novel collimator of the aforementioned type, which embodies novel collimating tubes constituted and arranged in a novel and expeditious manner.
An object ancillary to the foregoing is to enable the position of all of the collimating tubes to be adjusted in a novel and expeditious manner.
A further object of the present invention is to afford a novel collimator embodying a plurality of collimating tubes, which are adjustable to various positions to thereby change the focal point of the collimator, and which collimator embodies novel mechanisms for simultaneously adjusting the positions of all of the tubes relative to each other into position to focus on the selected focal point.
Yet another object of the present invention is to afford a novel collimator embodying a plurality of adjustable collimating tubes, and wherein the tubes are held in selected adjusted positions in a novel and expeditious manner.
Another object of the present invention is to afford a novel collimator for use in the nuclear radiation field, which is practical and efficient in operation, and which may be readily and and economically produced commercially.
Other and further objects of the present invention will be apparent from the following description and claims and are illustrated in the accompanying drawings which, by way of illustration, show a preferred embodiment of the present invention and the principles thereof and what we now consider to be the best mode in which we have contemplated applying these principles. Other embodiments of the invention embodying the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and purview of the appended claims.